Moses the Egyptian
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| Author | Jan Assmann |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Harvard University Press |
| Publication date | 31 Juli 1997 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Pages | 284 |
| ISBN | 978-0674587380 |
Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism is a 1997 book by the German Egyptologist Jan Assmann.
Summary
[edit]Assmann describes the book as a work of mnemohistory, which means it is about how the past was remembered rather than the past as such. It is about the reception of monotheism and its association with Akhenaten and especially Moses. Assmann deals with different types of monotheism and their conflicts with other theologies. Whereas Akhenaten's monotheism remained rooted within the cosmos, Moses' theology relied on transcendence to became central to an anti-Egyptian counter-religion, notable in the Exodus story. Assmann outlines what he calls the Mosaic distinction, where communities use monotheism to proclaim everything outside of their own group as profoundly illegitimate. He covers reception and debates about these subjects in Christian and modern Europe, notably through the increased interest in Egypt during the Renaissance, during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and in Sigmund Freud's book Moses and Monotheism.[1]
Reception
[edit]The book was first published in English in 1997 and in Assmann's native German in 1998.[2] It received wide acclaimed and became heavily discussed among Egyptologists and religious studies scholars.[3] In 2003, Assmann published the book The Price of Monotheism where he responded to critics of Moses the Egyptian and expanded on some of its material.[4]
References
[edit]- ↑ Lang, Bernhard (1999). "Review of Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism". Numen. 46 (1): 115–116. ISSN 0029-5973. JSTOR 3270293.
- ↑ Kaiser, Gerhard (2001). "War der Exodus der Sündenfall? Fragen an Jan Assmann anläßlich seiner Monographie »Moses der Ägypter«". Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche (in German). 98 (1): 1–24. ISSN 0044-3549.
- ↑ Feingold, Mordechai (2019). ""The Wisdom of the Egyptians": Revisiting Jan Assmann's Reading of the Early Modern Reception of Moses". Aegyptiaca. Journal of the History of Reception of Ancient Egypt (4): 99–124 Seiten. doi:10.11588/aegyp.2019.4.66096.
- ↑ Stipp, Hermann-Josef (22 March 2019). "Monotheismus, Monolatrie, Gewalt und Identität". Münchener Theologische Zeitschrift (in German): 105–106. doi:10.5282/mthz/5153.